PETALING JAYA: The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) planning director embroiled in the low-cost flat controversy will be transferred to the Shah Alam City Council next month.

Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali, who owns a low-cost unit at the Seri Jati flats in Ara Damansara, said when queried that the purchase was done properly with council staff permitted to purchase such units built by private developers.

Sharipah and engineering assistant director Hanizah Katab were among 500 MBPJ staff members who were named as those who owned low-cost flats.

The units owned by Sharipah and Hanizah have been rented out.

When contacted, Selangor Local Government Committee chairman Ronnie Liu said Sharipah’s transfer had nothing to do with the controversy but it was a decision that was made earlier by the state secretary.

“It is part of the rotation system among local council heads of department implemented by the state government late last year,” said Liu.

Engineering department heads of 12 local councils in Selangor were transferred in December last year.

MBPJ councillor Mak Khuin Weng had in January written to Petaling Jaya City Mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman about the issue, but when no action was taken to investigate these officers, Mak brought the matter into the open by announcing it to the press on Feb 24 after the council’s full board meeting.

While the council refuted the allegation that about 500 council employees illegally owned low-cost flats, no concrete evidence has surfaced regarding a policy started in 2000 that encouraged MBPJ staff to buy surplus low-cost flats built on private land.

Liu said the state government would wait for MBPJ to complete its internal investigation before deciding on the next course of action.

MBPJ secretary Puasa Md Taib confirmed that Sharipah would be transferred to the Shah Alam City Council in June while the planning director from the Klang Municipal Council, Noraini Roslan, would be transferred to MBPJ.